Measurement-induced interference in an inhomogeneous gravitational field

Abstract

A very interesting quantum mechanical effect is the emergence of gravity-induced interference, which has already been detected. This effect also shows us that gravity is at the quantum level not a purely geometric effect, the mass of the employed particles appears explicitly in the interference expression. In this work we will generalize some previous results. It will be shown that the introduction of a second order approximation in the propagator of a particle, immersed in the Earth's gravitational field, and whose coordinates are being continuously monitored, allows us to include, in the corresponding complex oscillator, a frequency which now depends on the geometry of the source of the gravitational field, a fact that is absent in the case of a homogeneous field. Using this propagator we will analyze the interference pattern of two particle beams whose coordinates are being continuously monitored. We will compare our results againt the case of a homogeneous field, and also against the measurement ouputs of the Colella, Overhauser, and Werner experiment, and find that the difference in the dependence upon the geometry of the source of the gravitational field could render detectable differences in their respective measurement outputs.